“Praising what is lost makes the remembrance dear” William Shakespear

The first week of November proved to be a busy one. We started off our new topics of Azerbaijan, Remembrance Day and healthy living. The special days so far this whole year have been excellent. The children really enjoy standing in front of their friends and explaining what they have chosen on our topics. It is so important for their confidence. We thank you, the parents, for helping them with their wonderful presentations and seeing their importance.

As Leyla is from Azerbaijan, she, along with her parents, brought in some fantastic objects for us to display in our classroom that represent their country. She explained with enthusiasm about the flag, the beautiful old buildings in the capital city of Baku and the pomegranate. We will go into more detail about this great country throughout the month.

Ryder started off the November special days with a Peppa Pig book about vegetable gardens. He enjoyed showing us the vegetables in the book and showing us how the scarecrow scares birds. He also brought stickers to hand out to his friends. Good idea Ryder.

Coco followed the next day with a presentation on her great Grandma who turned 100 last year. Her Grandma sang, performed and drove a truck for the troops during the war. Coco brought in photos of her with her Grandma at her 100 birthday party. She then gave all the children a poppy to wear to remember. A very special special day Coco.

We studied the importance of the poppy this week and how ‘a poppy is to remember’. We read the poem ‘In Flanders Field’ and spoke about the importance of peace.

Gavin followed on Thursday with his presentation on the human body. He brought in a very interesting book that showed how everything within our body worked and was most excited about a page entitled ‘eating and excreting!!!’. He explained how we ate, how it mixed with saliva in our mouth, went through our food pipe, intestines and then, the most exciting part, how we poop!!! Of course the children loved this and Gavin really enjoyed telling them!! Great enthusiasm Gavin.

Our last special day this week was Matias. He picked our theme of Remembrance Day also. He had three handmade posters of opposites. He had a picture of war crossed out and a picture of peace. A picture of fighting crossed out beside a picture of talking and a picture of hate crossed out beside a picture of love. Very strong messages Matias. Excellent choice. He explained each picture to his friends and told them how important love, peace and talking is. What a great idea. He also read two books to us, ‘It’s a small world’ and ‘Talk and work it out’. This tied in perfectly with a special visitor we welcomed on Friday. Joanne Henderson is a poppy co-ordinator with the Vancouver Legion. She visited the children on Friday morning and spoke to us about the importance of peace. She gave each of the children a poppy sticker and explained how the poppies grew in the fields. When bombs had been dropped they had disturbed the soil. By disturbing the soil, lime within the soil surfaced so poppies grew. She was extremely interesting and the children really enjoyed asking her about her medals which she explained she got from showing acts of peace. As she was leaving she complemented the children on their excellent behaviour and their fantastic poppy art scattered around the classroom. We were very proud of the children and how respectful they were to Joanne. Good job guys!

Next week we will have Olivia’s special day on Wednesday, Leyla’s on Thursday and William’s on Friday.

We will have some more visitors throughout the month of November. To tie in with our healthy living topic we have our friend and children’s dentist, Dr Elsa, joining us for a presentation on how to keep your teeth healthy on Friday November 21st.

Also, on Monday November 24th we have a nurse coming in to help us remember and the importance of how to be healthy.

On Friday November 28th we have our field trip to Axis Theatre to see the production of ‘The. Hungry Caterpillar’. All children and parents will meet us at the theatre on Oak and 41st. We will give the full address and time closer to the 28th. As all children will be with us in the morning there will be no afternoon class.